*Chapter 18: The Name That Time Forgot*
Theo didn't speak the next morning.
The clocks still ticked backward. Only by a second or two, but enough to make the town *twitch*. Lights flickered. Birds flew in odd patterns. Shop bells rang before doors opened.
People noticed.
But only Theo *understood.*
The dream hadn't been just a warning—it was a *message*.
And that golden-eyed stranger… hadn't been a dream at all.
***
Theo rushed back to the courtyard of clocks. The place where his trial had ended. Where time had once stood still.
But now—nothing was ticking.
All the clocks were dead.
Except one.
A small silver pocketwatch lying on the floor, pulsing faintly.
He picked it up.
Etched into the back were three words:
*"Find the Forgotten."*
His hands trembled.
"Who are you…?"
***
He turned to leave—
And someone stood blocking the exit.
A girl.
Maybe his age. Pale hair. Eyes like storm clouds. A long coat covered in gears and wires.
She spoke softly.
"You're Theo, right?"
He nodded slowly. "And you are?"
She held out a cracked badge.
"I don't care. I was never supposed to be strong. I was just *chosen.* And that means something."
Lyra stared at him for a moment.
Then she pulled a small device from her coat. It glowed purple.
"A temporal tracker. It detects corruption in the flow of time."
The device blinked once… then began to pulse.
Theo looked down.
It was pointing straight at the Heart Compass.
And the compass?
*Was pulsing faster.*
*"Lyra. Time Division, Sector D."*
He blinked. "Time Division?"
"Guardians like Mara were protectors. People like me… we track *what breaks.*"
Theo's chest tightened. "Something's breaking again."
She nodded. "Something *old.* Something sealed away by Mara herself."
He opened the pocketwatch.
"Is it the Forgotten?"
Lyra's jaw clenched. "You saw them?"
"In a dream."
"Then it's already too late."
***
They sat in the library attic while rain tapped the roof.
Lyra explained everything.
Long ago, before the Hourglass was created, there were *two* Guardians—Mara and someone else. A second bearer of the Heart Compass. But when the second Guardian tried to reshape time for themselves, they were stopped… sealed… *erased.*
Their name was wiped from all timelines.
Only a few echoes remained.
Lyra leaned closer.
"They weren't just sealed. They were buried in a time loop—one that resets every century. But the seal's cracking. They're waking up."
Theo whispered, "Then what happens?"
She looked at him, eyes sharp.
"Then the Hourglass shatters.
And we all forget who we ever were."
***
Theo gripped the Heart Compass tight.
"I have to stop them."
"You're not strong enough alone," Lyra said gently.